Origination

What would Congress do if it didn't have housing (and mortgage banking) to kick around? Who knows, really. Passing the payroll tax break extension was a good idea. It puts extra money in the pockets of potential mortgage customers who might use the cash to finance a home.

With 2011 coming to a close, we can start again in the new year with a clean slate - a brand new year with no mistakes. So let us not repeat the mishaps from 2011. Here is a summary of what not to repeat in 2012:

Add the name of EverBank Financial to the list of bidders that have been kicking the tires at MetLife Home Loans, Irving, Texas.

Consumers soon will be paying more for government-backed mortgages now that the House and Senate have reached a deal to extend a payroll tax break for two months.

Existing home sales were up in November for the sixth straight month in the huge Houston area market.

Housing production in California was up in November for the fourth consecutive month. But builders in the Golden State are still on track to start the third lowest number of units on record in 2011.

Another press release has arrived in my inbox, declaring a new low for mortgage rates. My initial response is: who cares! I don't mean to sound like a jaded mortgage columnist, but the untold story on rates boils down to this: how come continued low rates have not caused home purchases to really boom?

Home prices are back to last summer's levels, according to the latest reading from the Federal Housing Finance Agency, another sign that the real estate market is going nowhere fast despite record low rates.

In a roundtable discussion, Lew Sichelman, senior housing correspondent for National Mortgage News, asks members of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers' executive board what they are dealing with on the legislative front.

Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average weekly rate for a 30-year mortgage has inched down to another record low.